Rangers Tell Young He’s Staying Put

Michael Young will be transitioning into a new role this season, but he won't be changing teams before the 2011 campaign begins. Young told Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he has been told he won't be traded before the season starts (Twitter link). Adrian Beltre's arrival in Texas means Young won't be the everyday third baseman, but the Rangers still have room for him.

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported earlier today that Young will work out at first, second, third and short in preparation for the upcoming season. However, he will not play in the outfield. Young, 34, has not played short since 2008 or second base since 2003. He has never played first base or outfield in the majors and will likely DH regularly this year.

If the Rangers don't trade Young by May, they'll need his approval to finalize a deal. Young now has no-trade protection and his ten and five rights take effect this May. The Rangers would likely have to take on a significant portion of the $48MM remaining on Young's contract through 2013 if they decide to trade him.

because he has done nothing but piss and moan since changing positions after the arod-soriano trade, and he probably was complaining about arod going there. He is a mediocre defender all over the diamond. hits for a good average but hardly any power does not steal bases anymore and his range is worse and worse oh and he is paid 16 mill…16 mill for a DH you better be able to put up a .310/.400/.800..minimum slash line with 45+ hrs and 30 steals..but he wont do anything close to that…and yes fans can be upset about a players contract..when a player does not play to the value of his contract its the fans that pay for it in ticket prices

Why would a DH steal 30 bases? If you had the speed to steal 30 bases you would probably be useful as an outfielder. In today’s market a guy who can OPS a “minimum” 1.200 would cost you considerably more than $16 million, regardless of position. In fact,OPSing over 1.200 over an entire season is a feat that has been accomplished only 20 times in baseball history, and over half of those seasons belong to a player named either Ruth or Bonds. So yeah, how dare Michael Young not be one of the best hitters of all time! What a jerk!

At the time of his contract extension Young had a career .300/.346/.442/.788 line, with a 162 game average of 99 runs, 198 hits, 37 2b, 6 3b, 16 HR, 87 rbi and 10 SB. Considering he had just won a gold glove award at shortstop, this could be seen as an elite level of production. Giving Young 5 years/$80 million wasn’t a prudent move, but it wasn’t his fault that he was moved from second to short to third and now to DH, where his level of production is merely pedestrian.

no……no no no no no no no no if kenny is going to spend money(assuming 8-10 mill would be left over per year after texas eats some of it) I would rather see that money go to soriano to close games and not a mediocre 3rdbasemen who does not hit for power and complains about everything…besides we havea 3rd basemen who will probably put up similar offensive numbers next season in morell and his glove is better and best of all he is MAKING LEAGUE MINIMUM!

I realize the whole thesis for this post is he staying put, but doesn’t he make sense for the Reds? I mean, the Reds won’t want to pay $48M, but if the Rangers eats some of his salary and could maybe get a good prospect in return, wouldn’t that be win-win?

My guess is you would slot him in at SS(?) That could be a good fit. The Reds are ridiculously deep w/SPs. I could see a MYoung for Bailey (TEX native) swap making sense for both teams if constructed properly.

I’m gonna go with this for my all or nothing KO swing… if you had to choose between Young and possibly “atrocious” defensive play at SS but a guy that is still consistently a 3 WAR player, or Paul Janish to be your everyday SS, who would you choose?

According to Fangraphs he put up -4.6 Fielding Runs “above” average in 2008. That was a pretty “good” year for him though considering in ’07 he put up a -10.8 but that’s nothing compared to ’04-’05 when he put up -18.4 and -23.2 respectively.

In defense of the guy attacking me, Nate McLouth won a Gold Glove when he was (statistically speaking) the worst defensive CF in the NL. It’s such a popularity contest that it’s lost any value as a measure of good defensive play.

Sure, I actually don’t think it would be a terrible fit. Mostly I just can’t believe how bad this guys defense has been and thought I’d point it out, especially considering (as someone pointed out below) he managed to win a gold glove despite his terrible defense.

Please, how do they not have respect for him? They gave the guy $80mm to show their appreciation for the kind of team leader he’s been throughout his entire tenure with the Rangers. As a baseball player he’s not worth that, and I’d love to see him get anything near $16mm annually on the open market. They keep changing his position because he is a lawn gnome out there. Now he’s been relegated to DH because of his horrendous performance at 3B and is making $16mm a year to do it, a price he will not live up to. It’s nothing personal against Young, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of financial sense to have him around. No question he is the clubhouse leader, but other Rangers are about to start getting expensive and it doesn’t make sense to keep paying Young what he’s making for declining performance. It’s purely business. Maybe the Yankees are willing to stupidly waste money on declining players like Jeter, but the Rangers are probably less likely to do so.

he shouldnt piss and moan about switching positions because every time it has happened the rangers have happened to bring in a better player every single time. And yeah he has had to switch and done it after complaining to the media about it because he HAS TO…